# Synapsr — Hacker House

> A hacker house in Brest, France, in the iconic Le Grand Large building on the commercial port. Where founders, indie hackers and makers gather to build — to make Brest a real European tech destination. Inspired by Y Combinator's culture and the San Francisco hacker house tradition (HF0, Arcadia), embodied from Brittany. Free access, hand-picked. Operated by Synapsr and Lumy.

## In one sentence
- FR: « Tu es un builder ? On t'ouvre la porte. »
- EN: "Are you a builder? We open the door."

## Mission
- **Make Brest a real tech hub.** A hacker house is a roof; ours is also a project — to gather talents who build from Brittany and give those who hesitate to stay a real reason to do so.
- **A place for talents** — founders, indie hackers, senior tech freelancers, students who ship, makers, researchers. Status doesn't matter; what gets built does.
- **A coordination point** — not an incubator, not a coworking space. A place where profiles cross paths by serendipity, share their problems, accelerate together. The original YC model brought to Brest.
- **An ambition for the region** — make Brest a credible destination for French and European tech. Not by imitating Paris or San Francisco. By building our own identity.
- Complementary to La French Tech Brest+, Les Capucins, Le Totem — not a competitor.

## Manifesto (six principles)
- A hacker house, not a coworking space.
- Free, hand-picked — not a credit card.
- We care what you build, not your résumé.
- Quiet zones, loud ideas — not a suit-and-tie open space.
- Brest-based, globally aimed — not stuck in the province.
- A crew that ships, not a committee that approves.
- No lease. No pitch deck. No bullshit.

## The place — Le Grand Large
- 1954 industrial warehouse, converted to offices in 1986, hacker house in 2026
- Address: Bâtiment Le Grand Large, Port de commerce, 29200 Brest, France
- Coordinates: 48.3801° N, 4.4844° W
- Iconic landmark: tall vertical tower with the Neptune mural and "LE GRAND LARGE" signage
- Direct view of the working commercial port (cargo cranes, containers, fishing vessels)

## Inside (amenities)
- Spacious meeting room
- Hardwork zone (silent, headphones-on focus) + chill zone (sofas, conversation)
- Multiple TVs **& built-in video studio** ([studio-grand-large.fr](https://studio-grand-large.fr/)) for demos, live launches and recording
- Pool table, LEGO sets (built and to-build)
- Treadmill desk + standing desks
- Espresso bar + small kitchen
- Full sea view from the workspace

## Brest = San Francisco, almost
The site builds the case visually with four side-by-side comparisons:
- Golden Gate Bridge ↔ Pont de l'Iroise (Brest's cable-stayed bridge)
- Coit Tower ↔ Tour Rose (Monument Américain WWI memorial)
- Cable Cars ↔ Téléphérique de Brest
- Alcatraz ↔ Château de Brest
"And the food is better."

## Who is welcome
- Early-stage founders (idea → seed → bootstrap)
- Indie hackers and solopreneurs
- Senior tech freelancers shipping their own products on the side
- Makers and builders (hardware, AI, devtools, applied research)
- Tech-trained students who already build (no diploma filter)
- Builders aiming at the US, EU, or Asia from Brest

## How to enter
1. Reach out via email — one line is enough.
2. Show what you build (GitHub link, repo, screenshot, MRR, side project — whatever).
3. Coffee or video call (~20 minutes).
4. You're in. No signature, no commitment.

## Recent ships from the crew
- [Upgradr.ai](https://upgradr.ai) (May 2026) — the AI agency for agencies
- [Hovod.dev](https://hovod.dev) (April 2026) — open-source Mux alternative
- [Louez.io](https://louez.io) (February 2026) — rental management with 0% commission
- [Selaou](https://selaou.synapsr.io) (October 2025) — audio transcripts to AI datasets
- [Pelli.io](https://pelli.io) (January 2024) — all-in-one for pro photographers

## Founder's note (Loan)
> "An American-style meeting point. Here, in Brest. For ambitious people, looking forward, who give themselves the means to get there."

## Inspiration
- [Y Combinator](https://www.ycombinator.com/about) — culture of helpfulness, "make something people want", "do things that don't scale"
- [HF0](https://hackerfellowship.org) — San Francisco hacker fellowship
- [Indie Hackers](https://www.indiehackers.com/) — bootstrap revenue-first ethos
- The San Francisco hacker house tradition (Palo Alto era → SF mansions)

## Operated by
- [Synapsr](https://synapsr.io) — tech idea lab, 9 open-source tools (FastDiarize, Selaou, Vexa, ShotAPI, ProxyWarp, etc.)
- [Lumy](https://lumy.studio) — tech studio, 200+ products shipped, clients include OVH, Scaleway, Naval Group, French ministries
- 5-person team based in Brest: Loan (founder), Mégane, Téo, Lily, Simon

## Contact
- Email: house@synapsr.io
- Website: https://house.synapsr.io
- Studio (recording): https://studio-grand-large.fr
- GitHub: https://github.com/Synapsr

## Languages
- French: https://house.synapsr.io/fr
- English: https://house.synapsr.io/en

## Full content
For detailed AI ingestion (the complete manifesto with rationale, full FAQ, philosophy, governance), see [/llms-full.txt](https://house.synapsr.io/llms-full.txt).